The Daytona Worldwide Speedway hosts two Cup Sequence races yearly. The primary one is the legendary Daytona 500, which each driver on the grid goals of successful. The second is the Coke Zero Sugar 400, which performs a vital position in setting the 16-driver playoff discipline. William Byron is likely one of the few drivers with the authority to element the completely different dynamics between the 2.
Throughout a press convention at Watkins Glen Worldwide, he was requested to do the identical, contemplating that he’s the winner of the final two Daytona 500s. He stated that the 2 occasions are largely completely different from one another. For one, the autumn race is much more chaotic than the season-opener for apparent causes.
He defined, “I feel the observe is slick in some methods, however at nighttime, it features some grip. I really feel just like the automobiles are edgier to drive within the fall race. Plus, within the Daytona 500, you might have extra time to dial in your setup and dial in your dealing with for what you’re going to battle on Sunday. I feel desperation is excessive for lots of people, so it simply creates a whole lot of components that create a whole lot of crashes.”
Drivers push one another extra aggressively due to this desperation and find yourself creating lengthier races stuffed with cautions. Byron continued to make use of an instance from 2024 to make this case. He had been working fourth within the fixture, believing that every one he wanted to do from thereon was push. Josh Berry had been in his exterior lane on the time.
The drivers tried going three-wide, however ended up shaking the steadiness of the within lane, which prompted Berry to flip over. Thankfully, he escaped with out main accidents. “So, yeah, it’s at all times one thing there,” Byron concluded.
The summer season race at Daytona will quickly arrive as soon as the go to to Richmond Raceway is checked this weekend. The hype on it is going to be much more than ordinary since it is going to be the ultimate race of the common season and determine who wins 15 playoff factors by turning into the common season champion.
As issues stand, Byron is the front-runner with 812 factors. His teammate, Chase Elliott, trails him with a deficit of 42 factors. Denny Hamlin sits third with a deficit of 81 factors. The race may also determine which drivers get by way of to the playoffs on factors.
RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece look like those heading towards an all-out battle on observe, sitting sixteenth and seventeenth within the playoff standings.